The following Individual Assessment Task is taken by I,Charles Coorey of 9.1 and this assessment consists of an answered comprehension of the poem “We Are Going” by an Indigenous Aboriginal by the name of Oodgerooo Noonuccal also known as Kath Walker.Also a poem of my own will be added as Supplementary Material.This document will be posted on Pm Online and Wordpress under the Socialstudiesgroup2 page.
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We Are Going
They came in to the little town
A semi-naked band subdued and silent
All that remained of their tribe.
They came here to the place of their old bora ground
Where now the many white men hurry about like ants.
Notice of the estate agent reads: ‘Rubbish May Be Tipped Here’.
Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring.
‘We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.
We belong here, we are of the old ways.
We are the corroboree and the bora ground,
We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders.
We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told.
We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires.
We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill
Quick and terrible,
And the Thunder after him, that loud fellow.
We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.
We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low.
We are nature and the past, all the old ways
Gone now and scattered.
The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.
The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.
The bora ring is gone.
The corroboree is gone.
And we are going.’
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Oodgeroo Noonuccal
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Appreciating “We are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Read Oodgeroo’s “We are going” (p. 32) and answer these questions on it:
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- Explain why they are “silent and subdued”.
The Aborigines walking into the town are “silent(meaning <!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[1]<!–[endif]–>making no sound) and subdued(meaning<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[2]<!–[endif]–> lowered in intensity or strength) ” because they are already quiet but also are feeling rejected and ripped-off as foreigners entering a society dominated in the end by white culture reffering to the British who took over the Land from the Aboriginals.
- How are white men represented? Why?
The White Men illustrate the “Evil and Dark” side who took over the Aboriginals land “like ants”.The term “Like Ants says that the British came in many and rushed into all areas at once which carries the horror of the taking over of the land which is not supporting them and is giving The whites a bad image
- What is a bora ring and explain why it is so central to this poem.
The Bora Ring is a circle of foot hardened earth that is surrounded by raised by Embankments<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[3]<!–[endif]–>(A mound of earth or stone built to hold back water or to support a roadway)The Bora Rings are constructed of two rings,one of about 22m in diameter and a smaller one inside this circle with of about a diameter of 14m.This rings are used as a sacred walkway which is used during particular ceremonies.The Bora Ring is so central to this poem because it was a sacred ground to the Aboriginals that was taken over by the Whites.The Whites did not pay any respect to the Bora Ring and treated it like a dump with the British tipping their rubbish on to the Bora Ring and covering half of the Bora Ring so that it may not be seen while it is covered by Rubbish.This hurt the Aboriginals because they treat the land very sacredly and call it ‘Mother Earth” and for the Bora Rings to be treated like a dump it means that they are treating Mother Earth as a dump.
- Explain their reaction in line 8.
Line 8 states that “We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers”.The reaction of the Aboriginals is devastated and rejected while they feel like there is no justice because by saying that the land belongs to us and that the White Men are the strangers means they feel like the land was taken away from them unfairly and that there is no justice in what was happening.
- Lines 9-17 begin a ‘litany’. What is the effect produced?
The effect of a litany(meaning<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[4]<!–[endif]–>a ceremonial or liturgical form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications with responses that are the same for a number in succession) is the repetition continues the main point/statement and focuses our attention on it.
- Comment on the significance of metaphors used in the poem.
The Significance of Metaphors(meaning<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[5]<!–[endif]–>figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another) is great because Metaphors can easily be used with Aboriginals because they both relate to the earth.The metaphors thunder, shadow ghosts and daybreak are from Nature and are the natural element of these people which all relates to metaphors which in the end relate to the earth.
- Comment on the structure and form of this poem.
The structure and form of this poem is varying in lengths of lines.No rhyme is used in this poem and no syllables in the poem match meaning that this poem was not used or creativeness but for strong hard words that are put together wonderfully in this poem.This poem would fall into the type of a ballad with it just being a narrative poem.
- Why does Thunder have a capital letter?
The reason why I believe Thunder has a capital letter is because it needs to stand out and be an important word in the sentence and let the word have its own personality.The word Thunder is in the 16th line and it is in the sentence which states “And the Thunder after him, that loud fellow.”As you can see the word Thunder in that sentence is described as a “loud one” which gives the word impact which then forces the word to have a capital letter and stand out.
- Comment on the mood and atmosphere created here.
The mood of the poem is wishful and emphatic meaning it hurts and that we would wish for the better in this poem because it gives you a bad feeling on what happened to the land of the Aboriginals.The atmosphere of the poem is 100% guilt and shame because of the torment that the Whites commited on the Aboriginals land.This type of poem would make an Indigenous Australian feel bad and hurt.
- Combine comments on its theme, title and conclusion.
The theme of the poem(meaning the idea of the poem) is Rejection of present place as inadequate( to give people a particular emotion that feels guilty and sorry)while the title of the poem which is “We Are Going” gives us an idea of a particular person leaving their home which in this case is the Aboriginals who left their home and found it different when they came back.The conclusion of poem states that the “scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.
The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.
The bora ring is gone.
The corroboree is gone.
And we are going.’”
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This conclusion says that since all the properties and belongings of our land is gone,we must go now and move on which the Aboriginals meant by stating that “We Are Going” which in the end was the title of the poem.
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Lindsay Ohl’s poem Lost
Who is our tribe?
What are our customs?
Do I have a totem? What’s our bloodline or skin group?
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ANALYSIS
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Purpose:This poem written by Lindsay Ohl is a clever and thoughtful poem questioning the Aboriginal of his tribe,custom,totem.bloodline and skin group.
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Emotion:The emotion this gives to me is a strong and hard thought feeling telling me to look ,stop and stare at yourself and who you are.
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Technique:This poem has no sought of a particular technique used in the poem,it is just a narrative poem that asks questions.
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Impact:The impact this poem has is a strong impact on all Indigenous Aboriginals and it tells them to look at themselves and see who they truly are.
Who is our tribe?
What are our customs? Do I have a totem? What’s our bloodline or skin group?
Red = Significant Word By Charles Coorey 9.1 – It has gone wrong i will try and fix
